Andlátkyn; Vandr Sanses unin Alagaësia

The Boar's Eye

((...I have an alarm to remind me to post chapters on schedule, but somehow I still keep ending up posting them the next day... Well, since it's closer to Thanksgiving, I'll consider a special or something.. hhhmmmm.))

Alter gazed after the sloops as they slowly drew nearer and nearer as the day passed. He frequently went down belowdecks to check on the ill and injured, and heal them as he could, but Beats would always be there to make him stop and wrap up the wounds instead, Abyss even waking up near the end of the day, however drained he was.

By sunset Uthar had everyone put out every light to be found on the ship, the sloops falling back about a mile northwest before daybreak, in which they easily started catching up once again. By then Abyss was already ambling around the ship idly, glancing at their pursuers anxiously whenever abovedecks.

As late morning approached, Dance was peering over the starboard when he called out. "The rope's beside us! Not behind anymore!"
"...Drat." Alter raced to the prow to see a distant foam island spinning ever so slowly.
"Oh dear. Oh dear. We're late, aren't we. Oh no." He wrung his hands as he gazed across the water, hardly aware of Uthar's shouts as he ordered villagers around. Abyss appeared beside him, clad in his usual cloak and scarves, the strange furred things fluffing out much like a cat or bird. Their eyelights met.
"We'll make it." Abyss assured him.

Turning back to the increasingly speedier rotation Alter clucked. "Of course." Attempting a smile, he patted the small one. "We do have a tiny god on our side."
Abyss rolled his eyelights. "I'm not a god." Taller chuckled. "After that recent display? I don't see how not. You're already up and about only a day after that event."
"Really, I have no idea what that was."
"And that's alright, Abyss."

They watched as the Dragon Wing drew closer and closer to the gyrating foam, the water around it rose up and the center dipped down into a yawning pit full of a thousand roaring voices. Dance, Mecha, Beats and Kin met the pair at the ship's prow, as though to face the Boar's Eye together.

"If they can't push through the whirlpool, we all know the plan, right?" Abyss asked in a low voice.
"Surely you are still too weak to help us. You would overexert yourself." Alter cautioned.
"You'd risk us all dying?" Abyss countered evenly, eyelights never leaving the roaring maw ahead.
"We can manage on our own." Dance explained.
"This thing is several hundred tons." Abyss responded drily.

Dance scoffed in annoyance as the others goggled at the twisting column of mist spinning above the Boar's Eye.
The ship was already a mile past the center, sloops only two behind her. All words were muted as the oarmen heaved the Dragon Wing forward, directed by the pounding beat of the drum and rhythmic chant. The wind above them was stuttering due to the enormous currents disrupting the very atmosphere, wings blowing forward at full before falling limp- only to spring up again violently.

The massive whirlpool had grown to nearly nine and a half miles wide, the sides slanted steeply at 45° angles, full of grooves as some strands of water was spun faster than others, and it's pit was endlessly deep. The skeletons clustered near each other out of fear as the impossibly deep continuous bellow boomed from the yawning pit. The current picked up, dragging the Dragon Wing across it's circumference at lethal speeds, a rainbow flaring to life in the sky as the mists spun in such a wild frenzy they mirrored the endless chasm below.

As the Dragon Wing turned somewhat against the current, it jolted, shaking as it lost all it's speed and dropped to a near standstill within moments. Abyss cried out incoherently as he was the first to spot someone dropping from the crow's nest in the rigging, Mecha quick to react to grab the human with blue magic, setting them down on the deck. It turned out to be Roran, the man nodding sharply at them before rushing belowdecks.

After a tense moment, Beats took off running for the quarterdeck, to which the rest followed with panicked shouts. The younger ignored them, instead leaning over the rail and staring intensely at the water just below or the sloops so close by. "What are you doing?!" Kin demanded, shaken.
"We're barely moving!" Beats responded in terror.

"Shit shit shit SHIT-" Dance swore under his breath before Abyss suggested something. "What if we used Blasters to push us forward instead? It's less energy- not much, but compared to picking up the entire ship it's a better option."

Mecha immediately summoned three of the skulls and pressed their backs to the rear of the ship. "Like this?"
"Yeah!" Abyss summoned several of his strange "Minis" and arranged them in notches on the hull, aimed downward at the ebony water, Dance quick to summon his own two Blasters and set them against the wood as Kin formed one near the rudder.
"On three?" Dance suggested.
"No, small increments at a time, or we might set the ship off balance." Abyss warned.
"You first, then." Kin offered huskily, not looking at anyone.

"Aight." Abyss rolled his shoulders and closed his sockets, the gemlike lasers flaring to life before firing their beams into the water. The Dragon Wing shivered slightly, crawling forward a few feet before beginning to slow once more. The sloops in the distance had slowed to a standstill, oars plowing through the water as they fought the current from closer to the center of the maw.

Dance slowly let his skulls blaze up, the ship definitely gaining several feet and not losing them this time. He grinned at the others, Beats bouncing as he giggled. Mecha glanced to Kin, who never took his gaze off the sloops. The robotic skeleton shrugged and let his lasers burst forth, electricity crackling as an almost tesla buzz emanated from his Blasters, the Dragon Wing picking up speed as it approached the edge of the Boar's Eye. A loud whoop echoed across the water, drawing their attention to Uthar at the wheel, Roran beside him with one tired arm raised high over his head.
The skeletons raised their own hands as well, grinning together in collective giddiness.
Then Kin set off his weapon, proving it was the strongest of all as it sent the ship jolting forward briefly before settling down into a steady pace away from the whirlpool.
The crewmates abovedecks all cheered in stunned amazement and ecstasy at this as they recovered.

The moment was soured, however, as an arrow blazing with green fire struck the mizzen sail, splattering liquid fire all over the place.
"Damnit." Dance dismissed his weapons and rushed to help put it out.
"We can't put it out!" A sailor cried out in panic.
Dance merely raised his left arm and incanted two words. "Eldvarya néiat!"
The green globules sputtered before flickering to a blue-purple color and going out. The shorter grinned chaotically, fist pumping. "First try!" He highfived the nearest person, who happened to be a confused sailor who went with it.

Now a few villagers stumbled out of the hatch and peered around, disoriented. Roran approached the Sanses, breath ragged as he grinned through sweat. "We wouldn't have made it out of there without you. For that, I thank you." He addressed Alter, then took Dance's hand in both of his own and shook it. "Thank you."
"No need, buddy. We're all literally in the same boat here." Dance assured him with a good-natured smile, winking.

"It's just a bunch of luck. We're all lucky to be on the same side." Kin grunted, dismissing his Blaster as they left the Boar's Eye behind and facing Roran, face scrunching up at the pungent human. "Let our goals stay the same, huh?" The leader of Carvahall nodded at him, both respecting one another as kindred spirits.
"Aye. You're a good ally, Kin."
"And ya I'd definitely think twice about attackin'."
They nodded to each other, then everyone turned to glance back at the great rumbling whirlpool, just in time to watch the sloops lose their battle against the current and draft backwards into the mist, meeting their ultimate demise.
Alter shuddered, imagining the terrible fate that awaited those within the depths of the Boar's Eye.

"Lucky we are, indeed." The old queen marveled quietly.
"Aye." Agreed the human.
"Aye." Abyss murmured.
"Captain." Mecha whispered under his breath.

Alter couldn't stop the loud guffaw once he realized why he said that.